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Monthly Archives: December 2012

1. No surprise here. Rutgers is not in the same class as the top 10-15 programs in the country anymore. The results have shown it year after year as Rutgers has lost 28 of its last 29 games against Top 10 opponents, which Tennessee was before its recent back-to-back defeats to Baylor and Stanford. Rutgers has lost nine straight meetings in the series, which used to be a great rivalry peaked by their battle in the 2007 NCAA Tournament final.

2. No Mo? Mo problems. Rutgers’ leading scorer Monique Oliver suffered a sprained ankle midway through the first half and did not return. The senior center finished with no points or rebounds. Rutgers has one more should-be-easy game (Jan. 2) before the Big East schedule begins. If Oliver, who easily is the team’s best all-around player, is not back by then, Rutgers will have a very difficult time being competitive.

Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice returned from his three-game, two-week suspension today and answered questions from the media for 18 minutes after running a light walk-through for the Syracuse game.

On his feeling about returning: “It’s awesome. It’s tremendous to be with the team. My staff, I’ve been telling people for two and a half years now, how good my staff is. I’m proud of the way they responded. They not only held the rope, they got better. I’m also proud of the way my players have handled this adversity. They seem to have gotten stronger.”…continue reading →

ORLANDO, Fla. — On the eve of his team’s Russell Athletic Bowl showdown with Virginia Tech, Kyle Flood was asked to assess the progress of quarterback Gary Nova’s first full season as Rutgers starting quarterback.

The Scarlet Knights skipper offered the kind of answer that hinted at the blind loyalty that had Rutgers fans scratching their heads after witnessing a 13-10 overtime defeat Friday night in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

“I’m excited about where Gary is. I really am,’’ Flood said approximately 30 hours before Rutgers saw an opportunity to extend its bowl winning streak to six wasted by a woeful performance from his sophomore quarterback. “I think he’s really at the beginning of his first full cycle as a starting quarterback. He didn’t really have it in the spring when he split
reps. He didn’t have it in the preseason until about two weeks out. From that point until now, I think he’s made tremendous progress. Not a lot of repeat errors. And I think he’s become a better leader. He’s someone his teammates look to how he responds both physically and from a body-language standpoint.

“Everything beyond this point is only going to make him better. He’ll have the opportunity to go into the spring as the starting quarterback and take the full amount of reps. He’ll get another training camp full of reps in the summer. I’m excited about where he is now but more excited by where he can be next year.’’

That thought process became even more curious after Nova delivered a sluggish performance on the big stage Friday night, totaling 129 yards on 17-for-40 passing with an interception and no touchdowns. Nova, who was sacked three times, could’ve had at least three other passes interceptions and failed to engineer a single touchdown drive as Rutgers fell short in its quest to produce just the third double-digit winning campaign in program history, dropping its third straight game to close the season with a 9-4 record.

In the post-game autopsy that followed, Flood repeatedly stood by his embattled signal caller, saying he had no thoughts of pulling Nova in favor of backup Chas Dodd.

“Gary is our starting quarterback,’’ Flood said, “and he is the guy that has earned that job and earned the right to be in the game and certainly nothing I saw from him made me feel like I should make any change.’’

It’s a statement that had Rutgers fans in an apoplectic state, delivering a barrage of criticism directed at Flood and Nova throughout the message-board communities.

Also included in the video is Khaseem Greene, a fifth-year senior linebacker from Elizabeth who scored Rutgers’ lone touchdown off a fumble recovery 17 seconds into the game and finished with a team-high 11 tackles to move into fourth place in Scarlet Knights history with 387 stops for his career.

ORLANDO, Fla. Kyle Flood wanted his Rutgers football team to be evaluated based on its complete body of work, not just on the two-game slide that cost the Scarlet Knights an outright Big East title and the BCS berth.

What he will see now is a team that came tantalizingly close to making history, but one that failed to deliver when it mattered most.

A season that saw Rutgers start 7-0 ended in disappointment Friday night in the Russell Athletic Bowl, as Virginia Tech rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to prevail 13-10 in overtime before 48,127 fans at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Cody Journell drilled a 22-yard field goal to give Virginia Tech a 13-10 lead on the first overtime series, and Nick Borgese’s 42-yard field goal sailed wide right to end the game.

“Definitely not a good feeling, that’s a given,’’ Borgese said. “I mean, it’s a kick I’ve made thousands of times since I started kicking. It shouldn’t matter whether we needed to win, whether it’s in practice. Every kick is the same. It’s not like I was nervous. It just didn’t
happen for me today.’’

The loss – Rutgers’ third straight to close a 9-4 campaign — snapped a five-game bowl winning streak for the Scarlet Knights, whose offensive ineptitude included 196 total yards and two turnovers over the final 11 minutes of regulation.

“If you asking me to evaluate the season, to me the season as a whole had a tremendous amount of success and we’re disappointed that we didn’t win the bowl game,’’ Flood said. “To win a share of the Big East title for the first time in the history of school is a tremendous accomplishment, and I think that’s the accomplishment that this senior class is going to be defined by. I don’t think they’re going to be defined by tonight.’’

Rutgers’ offensive woes could be attributed Gary Nova, who completed just 17 of his 40 passes for 129 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. The sophomore quarterback had three interceptions through Rutgers’ 7-0 start, but threw 13 as Rutgers dropped four of its final six to end the season.

“They got a really good defense,” Nova said. “They did some stuff that prevented us from executing. They got a great scheme and some great players.”

Asked how disappointed he was in his own performance, Nova said: “It (stinks) to end the year this way. But I know I have a bright future and I just have to keep working hard. It (stinks) to send the seniors out this way but I just have to keep getting better.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — Greetings from the Florida Citrus Bowl, where Rutgers (9-3) will face Virginia Tech (6-6) in a Russell Athletic Bowl showdown. Kickoff is slated for 5:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Follow Keith Sargeant and Ryan Dunleavy on Twitter for in-game updates and return to Scarlet Scuttlebutt afterwards for post-game analysis, including the recap, coach Kyle Flood’s post-game press conference video, and interviews from the locker room.

As for our predictions, I have Rutgers beating Virginia Tech, 24-20, while Ryan Dunleavy has the Scarlet Knights prevailing, 20-17.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Score one victory for Rutgers at the Russell Athletic Bowl.

Hours before the Rutgers and Virginia Tech football teams were set to play their bowl game, the bands from the two schools faced off in a battle of the bands.

George Stauffer is admittedly biased. But the dean of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts said Rutgers “did very well.”

Of Rutgers’ 205-member marching band, 193 traveled to Orlando this week to motivate the Scarlet Knights in their quest to capture their sixth straight bowl championship. After playing at a pep rally Thursday afternoon, they did their usual routine for Scarlet Knights as they entered the Florida Citrus Bowl two hours before the 5:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday.

“It takes an extraordinary commitment to be in a marching band through thick and thin, through good weather and bad, so when they get to go to a bowl game in Orlando, Fla., it’s a big payoff for them,” Stauffer said.

Tim Smith echoed that sentiment.

“For these guys, this is unbelievable because what people forget is the hours and hours and hours that the bands put into it,” the director of Rutgers bands said. “So this really translates into a real reward for these guys at the end of the season. It’s great because it’s reciprocal. The kids would root for Rutgers no matter what because they’re students, but they’re always rooting for them to make a bowl game so they can have this experience. It’s rewarding for me to see them have this kind of experience.”

Smith, who like Stauffer, has been affiliated with the Rutgers band for 13 years added: “I think everybody focuses on just how hard all of the athletes work around the Rutgers athletics program, and they should because they do work very hard but right next to them is these marching band students that are at every football game and every basketball game. Aside from that they’re putting in hours of rehearsal time and studying every week. It’s a big deal for these guys. And these are great people. I love every minute working with them.”

Bowl history: Rutgers has played in seven bowl games, with six coming in the last seven years. The Scarlet Knights are tied with Mississippi State for the nation’s longest active bowl winning streak with five straight postseason triumphs since 2006.

Virginia Tech has played in 25 bowl games, posting a 9-16 record overall. Of the 25 bowl games, five have been in the BCS and one was a loss to Florida State in the 1999 National Championship game. This marks the 20th straight year Virginia Tech has appeared in a bowl game. Virginia Tech has lost its last two bowls, but both came in the BCS – a 23-20
overtime loss to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl last year and a 40-12 setback to Stanford in the Orange Bowl in 2011.

A pep rally to cheer on the Rutgers football team is held on Thursday afternoon in Orlando, Fla., where the Scarlet Knights will meet Virginia Tech in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Friday (5:30 p.m., ESPN) at the Florida Citrus Bowl:

Prospects are able to sign letters of intent beginning Wednesday. Per a new rule last season, college football programs are able to accept National Letters of Intent (NLIs) during an early signing period for three days in December. These NLIs are a binding commitment between school and individual. In 2018, this period begins Wednesday December […]

The former Scarlet Knight rushed for over 100 yards for the third time in his past five games Gus Edwards has paved an unlikely path from undrafted free agent to making the practice squad to becoming the starting running back for the Baltimore Ravens, all since this past April. After having a productive final season […]